DSLR Photography Lesson with Pam & her Canon 60D

Pam with her Canon 60D with 430 EX II Speedlite during our first of four DSLR Photography LessonsPam using her significant crafts and sewing skills to make products (aprons, etc) that she sells and uses the profits from to buy photography gear!  I think it is a great way to support one artistic pursuit with another.  She started out with a Canon XTi, but now has a Canon 60D along with a growing list of lenses and the Canon 430 EX II Speedlite.  She brought both to our first of four DSLR Photography Lessons last night.

Pam was already knowledgeable of most photography terms so we focused on what exposure mode is best to use for a given situation.  We started out using aperture priority mode, but with the overcast skies taking away the light faster than usual during our evening lesson, we soon used manual mode.  

We experimented to find out what was the slowest shutter speed Pam could handhold and maintain a sharp image using her 18-55mm lens.  In my mind I want at least 1/60th of a second using an absolutely stable shooting style.  It is possible to shoot with a slower shutter speed, as Pam was able to get a sharp shot even at 1/30th, but one has to be really careful and of course be shooting only still subjects.

As a thunderstorm approached that turned out to be all bark and no bite, we concluded the lesson with some flash portrait practice under the cover of the entrance to the Chihuly Museum on Beach Drive.  I told Pam the key thing to keep in mind when setting up a portrait using flash, which is the flash lights the subject and the aperture/shutter speed control the ambient light (background light).  

For our 2nd of 4 lessons we will switch to landscape and architecture photography.

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DSLR Photography Lesson with Jim & his Sony A33 at Sawgrass Lake Park

Jim with his new Sony A33 during a DSLR photography lesson at Sawgrass Lake Park in St. PetersburgAfter a lot of lessons out on The Pier recently, it was a nice change of scenery this morning to meet Jim at Sawgrass Lake Park for our first DSLR Photography Lesson.  He added a Sony A33 to his camera collection, and has already acquired a bagfull (literally) of lenses.  He had a knowledge of photography vocabulary which helped as I explained to him my 4-step process for setting up a shot.  

We spent most of the lesson out on the network of boardwalks in the park, which featured, as many Florida parks do, a lookout point over a body of water.  We saw ospreys cruising the skies spying for fish, a lone alligator in the distance, and the usual assortment of wading birds.  They were all too far away from the lookout point to be able to photograph, though.  We did get a chance to see butterflies, squirrels and dragonflies up close.  

Due to the treecover along the boardwalk we soon had to switch to manual mode (from aperture priority) to produce the shots we wanted to.  Jim told me of a favorite spot of his in the park looking down along a long, narrow, watery path.  It was our last shooting location of the day and it proved to be quite a challenging shot to get right.  Once aperture, ISO and shutter speed were dialed in though, we were able to make a shot better than the eye could see in the given light at the time.

I look forward to seeing Jim's future nature and theme park shots!

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DSLR Photography Strobist Lesson with SB-600 in St. Petersburg Florida

Sarina with her strobist setup of SB-600 Speedlight & Yongnuo radio remotes in St. PetersburgBack at The Pier again this evening for my third of four DSLR Photography Lessons with Sarina.  This lesson followed our established format of practicing off-camera-flash, "strobist," photography the first hour then editing digital photos she took a few days prior.  I was glad to hear that Sarina improved her portrait shooting settings week to week no longer using any ISO above the minimum 200 on her Nikon D90.  This week we worked on perfecting using the right shutter speed with the right aperture and the right speedlight power setting.  It is really important to keep in mind that the speedlight lights your subject while the DSLR's exposure settings control the ambient (background) light.  

First in our practice tonight we decided to include the background in the shots, thereby using a small aperture with a slower shutter speed.  I then said I like bokeh and longer focal length portraits, so that meant setting a larger aperture and compensating for that increase in light by setting a faster shutter speed.  Typically I would like to use about f/11 and 1/100th for the former and then f/5.6 and 1/200th for the latter.

We concluded by editing some of the photos Sarina took on a maternity shoot on Sunday.  Most of the editing questions Sarina had revolved around effectively using the quick select tool to make selective edits to very specific parts of the photo only (SEE HOW TO DO THIS).  For example, a bit of clothing material needed to be removed along a defined edge.  Without first selecting the material to be removed, it would have been extremely difficult or near impossible to maintain that defined edge just clone stamping freely.  Later I came up with an on the fly new way of whitening teach by going into the color balance settings and taking the yellow/blue slider more toward the blue end thereby reducing the yellow look of teeth.  We of course did a quick select of only the person's teeth as we did not want to reduce yellow in the overall image.

Sarina has another maternity shoot before our next lesson so I look forward to seeing her continued progress.

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DSLR Photography Tripod Lesson with Barbie & her Nikon D700

This portrait is how the humidity made Barbie & I feel during out tripod DSLR photography lesson in St. Petersburg FloridaBefore a few weeks ago, I only had about two DSLR Photography Lessons in two years out at The Pier along the St. Petersburg waterfront.  In the past two weeks I have now lost count how many times along with a student I have made the walk (or trolley ride) to The Pier.  I am sure I will be returning often as for such a small location, it is a very fertile photography location offering bird photography, including birds in flight, sunset shots, cityscape shots and panoramic cloud shots.  

Barbie returned for her second of four lessons after a nearly four month period.  She showed up with a new Manfrotto tripod, but to my disappointment left her amazing new Nikkor 85mm f/1.4G lens at home!!  She promises to bring it for our third lesson though.  I cannot wait to see that lens in action.  

After giving Barbie a quick refresher on setting aperture, ISO, WB and focus mode the rest of the lesson focused on how to best use a tripod to produce shots that would otherwise not be possible.  This begins with actually using all the features one's tripod has and how to even just be able to expand, collapse and adjust the tripod itself.  Tripod technology has advanced since the old days of adjusting three different levels.  Nowadays there is just a single release point controlling a ball head mount allowing for much faster and more fluid adjustments.  

Once the sun sunk below the horizon I showed Barbie how switching to manual mode and choosing the exact shutter speed we want rather than what the camera thinks is best allows the photographer to produce images much more dynamic than what the eye sees once daylight has all but vanished.  

Next up will be a portrait lesson with Barbie and her new 85mm lens!

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DSLR Photography Lesson with Cindy & her carbon fiber monopod

Cindy has yet more new gear! In this photo her new carbon fiber monopod & great Black Rapid camera strapNow less than a week away from her grand photography trip to photograph Alaska's wildlife, Cindy met me in downtown St. Petersburg for our fourth of four "next generation" lessons.  Last year Cindy took a few lessons as well, but over this spring and summer the lessons have been with her all knew updated gear, least of which is her awesome Nikkor 70-200mm VR II f/2.8G lens.  For this lesson she debuted a carbon fiber monopod I recommended for her as well as the awesome Black Rapid RS7 strap.  

As you can see from the photo above, her Nikon D90 when connected to the aforementioned 70-200mm VR II f/2.8G lens and 2x teleconverter is quite the heavy setup for handheld use.  The monopod will not only provide stability and a level shooting platform, but perhaps most of all for Cindy it basically eliminates all the weight of her DSLR and lens.  I was really impressed with the Optek monopod.  Combined with a very smooth head, it seems like great value for a carbon fiber rig all told under $150.  

I was really anxious to see the Black Rapid RS7 strap in person.  I knew it would be good, how can it not be when it very sensibly takes the camera/lens weight off of your neck and puts it onto your shoulder?  From the second I tried hers on I knew it would be my next gear investment, and a soon one at that.  I will provide a full review then.  Even now though I can state 100% that if your neck strap is killing you, get this Black Rapid strap or one of the several other types of strap Black Rapid offers.  I will be getting the RS-Sport version.

For this lesson at The Pier the pelicans were unfortunately not as active as they were during Natasha's lesson the same time yesterday morning.  Still, the introduction of the monopod and new strap brought a whole new set of shooting ergonomics for me to advice Cindy on.  We also got some good eagle photography practice by photographing incoming Cessna planes.

I hope Cindy comes back from Alaska with the whale fluke shot she wants as well as some great bear, eagle and other wildlife shots!

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DSLR Photography Lesson with Golda from The Pier St. Petersburg

Golda setting up a sunset shot from The Pier looking at downtown St. Petersburg - DSLR Photography LessonsIt was yet another beautiful Florida sunset for Golda's second of four DSLR Photography Lessons.  For the first lesson we went to Vinoy Park, for this one we went from the top to the bottom of The Pier.  This day ended for me as it began, teaching how to photograph pelicans, which is one of my favorite things to do so not a bad day!

The other focus for the lesson besides bird photography was sunset & twilight images using a tripod.  Despite the small size of Golda's tripod, I helped her position it between the railings so that she could still get good sunset shots.  Students often ask about tripods.  They ask, "should I get one?" and, "what is a good tripod to get?"  The first question is easy to answer:  YES . . . get a tripod for sure.  The second one is very difficult to answer.  When I tell someone I think acceptable tripods start at $300, they usually blanch.  When I say a real no compromises tripod is around $600, well, that loses most people.  So then I come around to saying that maybe for $150 you can get one that is not entirely junk that sounds more reasonable.  Photographers have a saying though, "you only want to buy a tripod once."  

That said, next on Golda's gear list to get is an external flash, which I think is another must for any DSLR photographer.  I will be seeing Golda next Thursday evening as well and I look forward to showing her what new photography opportunities a proper flash brings.  

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DSLR Photography Lesson with Natasha at The Pier St. Petersburg

Natasha photographing airplanes taking off from The Pier during our 4th of 4 DSLR Photography LessonsIt had been over two months since Natasha took her third of four DSLR Photography Lessons.  I was pleased to learn though that she had been practicing and had not forgotten anything as we took our fourth lesson this morning out at The Pier.  Our mission for the day was to photograph pelicans in flight.  Thankfully, four pelicans were regular diving for food right at the edge of a lower dock area of The Pier that even provided Natasha and I a bit of shade.  The poor minnows were getting attacked from above by the pelicans and from below by larger fish.  I wonder how they deal with that kind of stress?  

Since the pelicans were mostly flying in a compact area, it was even more challenging to track them due to the limited flight distances between perch and prey.  I advised Natasha to hold the view finder just below her eye and use the barrel of the lens as a sight for tracking the birds and once in range you can then put your eye into the view finder and the bird should already be well framed making it possible to track the bird's flight path from within the view finder.  

I have enjoyed my lessons with Natasha, but as she is moving from the area I will only be able to see her future photography progression from online sources.  Good luck Natasha!

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